Syrian rebels are holding machine guns on the right and cellphones on the left

By Gene Ryan Briones on 08/20/2012 08:29 PST

In war-torn Syria, rebels are “MGexting”, that is, holding a machine gun in the right hand while the left hand is busy on a cellphone. Apparently Syrian rebels are relying heavily on SMS for their operations. As seen above, 20-year old Ahmed Sheikha is manning a 7.62mm PK machine gun while speeding towards the war-torn city of Aleppo. New York Times foreign correspondent C.J. Chivers said that Ahmed Sheikha defected from the Syrian Army six weeks ago and is now fighting for the al-Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo.

“Even as the war in Syria rages, large areas of the countryside have cellular phone coverage, and the fighters are constantly checking their phones. When they stop, many of them immediately look for ways to recharge their phone batteries. And, often as they move and enter an area with a strong signal, they commence texting back and forth,” Chivers wrote. We’ve also seen an almost similar type of implementation last when we learned how SMS alerts were being used in Israel to alert its citizens in the event of an incoming missile attack.